Author: Xandy Peters
Knitting designer and teacher Xandy Peters is best known as the innovator of the stacked stitch technique and for the popular Fox Paws pattern. A former footwear and product designer, Xandy turned to knitting as a way to explore textiles and surfaces beyond factory production and has since built a thriving career publishing patterns and teaching workshops around the world.
We’ve invited Xandy to share his best advice for aspiring craft instructors—from getting started in your local community to pitching classes at major events. These tips will help you navigate your teaching path with confidence.
Take it away, Xandy…
Teaching craft classes can be a fun and rewarding experience, or even career, but getting started in the industry can be a bit intimidating. If you’ve had success teaching individuals new skills or making short-format content on the internet, leading larger classes can be a natural next step.
When I first started teaching knitting classes, I had been blogging for a while and had gained moderate success during the “BuzzFeed era” of the internet. I wasn’t necessarily looking for full-time work, but I found teaching to be an engaging and rewarding part of my craft business.
Here are my top 5 tips to build a successful career (or side hustle) as a craft instructor, and confidently pitch your craft classes to conferences, stores, and more.
1. Prepare Materials to Pitch Your Craft Class
Before presenting a class to anyone, I prepare three documents for myself: The first is an outline of all the class content; the second is a handout with all the pattern instructions or skills to be learned during the session; and the final document is my class menu.
The class menu includes information about each class that I offer. (It’s also the only document that is seen by the potential host when I’m actually pitching my ideas.) I include a one- to three-paragraph description of each class and what we will cover during the lesson. It’s important to discuss any expectations that students should have and be clear about whether they will walk away with a finished project, a part of a project, or just a new skill.
Note: It is not standard to be asked to provide a handout or an outline before signing a contract. If you are asked to provide those documents, politely decline to turn them over until you are offered a job. Instead, offer to provide testimonials and references that back up your skill.
Clearly state the intended focus of the class and any prerequisites that are required of the students. Use descriptive language to paint a picture of the experience attendees can expect. If there’s homework before the lesson, be sure to include that, but again, do not turn over any documents or patterns to the venue before they hire you. A description is sufficient.
Make a list of any required supplies—optional supplies can also be noted at this time. This ‘menu’ document is not only helpful for anyone receiving a pitch—it’s helpful for me. Once all the descriptions, homework, and supply lists are written, I no longer have to think about detailing class information after my pitch is accepted. It’s also ready for when I announce the class on my website and promote it on social media.
Key Takeaway: Create a detailed “class menu” with descriptions, prerequisites, and supply lists to streamline your pitching and teaching process.
2. Establish Yourself as a Craft Leader in Your Community
Almost every crafter I know is also a craft teacher. We are lucky to be part of a community where people are generous with information; teaching friends and other members of our stitch groups new skills is commonplace. This is the first step to your success as a professional teacher. There is a natural progression if you are hoping to teach: Start with local shops, grow your following, then travel a bit further, and eventually apply to teach at national conventions and even internationally.
Before I started teaching, writing blog posts helped me hone my communication abilities. They also helped me grow an audience of knitters who trusted my expertise. When my knitting pattern business took off, local shops started to approach me about teaching classes and retreats. One of the reasons they trusted my abilities was because they could go online, read my blog, watch my YouTube videos, and see that people had success with my lessons. It was tangible proof that I could plan a lesson and explain skills to a group of, essentially, strangers.
Of course, without any formal experience, I needed to get some advice before pitching knitting classes to shops. After a few helpful conversations with professional educators, I finally felt ready to take on some of these jobs. If you don’t have a background in education, seek out someone who does and take their advice. As a young designer, I also invested in a lot of education with well-known instructors. When it was my turn to pitch classes, I had already experienced the environment that I would be working in. Even without teaching experience, I had formed opinions about what was and wasn’t helpful in a classroom setting. Eventually, some of the instructors that I looked up to helped me learn how to pitch a class to a large, national-level convention.
When you pitch your ideas, keep in mind that larger events want to see that either you have a big internet following to bring in customers or that you have a lot of experience and will be a good fit for their established audience of crafters.
Key Takeaway: Your blog, videos, and online presence can serve as proof of your teaching ability.
3. Identify Your Craft Area of Expertise
Those of us who work in the craft industry tend to have an area of expertise (e.g., sweaters, entrelac, Tunisian crochet). With such a wide range of skills, it’s good to find a niche that you fit into. If your expertise is in teaching and you want to build a career in crafts, that’s also a good starting point. Also, consider who your target audience is—what would they like to learn from you?
When I am developing classes, I always think about techniques that have given me a lot of trouble. Those are the areas where I have the most advice to offer because I’ve spent the most time working on them and honing my skill.
There’s no hard rule on what sort of content a class should cover. You’re not required to offer any patterns or projects related to the skills that you explore in classes. Instead, you can simply focus on a technique. Plenty of crafters are happy to leave a class with improved skills and no physical product. Some teachers, however, much prefer to teach project-based lessons, and this can be a better fit for shops and venues with a shopping element.
Personally, I tend to develop two versions of a class: one with a project in mind, and one that is purely technique-based. That way, when I pitch my new ideas, the host has an option to choose what they feel is best for their clientele and their bottom line.
Key Takeaway: Define what you’re great at—and passionate about teaching—so you can develop focused, valuable classes for the right audience.
4. Choose a Craft Class Format
Before you start planning your class material, decide where and for how long you plan to hold your class. For in-person classes, 3 hours seems to be the magic number for most shops and events. Sometimes there are opportunities to teach shorter classes, but these tend to be open-format walk-ins.
For online classes, the same amount of content in a 3-hour, in-person class is usually presented in 2 hours. I’ve been told this is because there’s less opportunity for interaction between teacher and student, but it’s also due to the fact that many digital classes are recorded for playback and review by students. There’s no need to repeat as much content before moving on.
In-depth classes may require multiple sessions, but if you’ve never pitched a class before, start with the shortest time slot available. Once you’ve proven your teaching skills, you can move up to more work hours, but it’s going to be a much harder sell when you’re just starting out.
Key Takeaway: Select a class format that fits the teaching environment and your experience level, and remember that shorter, focused sessions are often more effective when you’re starting out.
5. Research Craft Teaching Venues
Before you get in touch with a shop or event coordinator, do a little research. It’s always good to understand what they’re about—make note of what yarns they stock, what customers they serve, and what types of classes they already offer.
To stand out from other class proposals, consider pitching a unique and innovative class concept. Whether it’s a specialized technique, a trendy project, or a themed workshop, offering something different will pique the shop owner’s interest and attract potential students. For example, if I see that a shop has a staff member with extensive colorwork experience, I’m not going to pitch a basic Fair Isle class. They already teach those skills regularly, so I might pitch a higher-level colorwork class because their customers already have a foundation to build on.
For larger events, it’s important to offer as many options as possible. They’re going to be juggling a slew of teachers—it’s up to them to make sure that there’s no overlapping content and that everything they’re looking for is covered by the staff they hire.
The first time I pitched classes for a large event, I was told that six classes was the absolute minimum that I should include in my application. Anything less and they wouldn’t be able to book me for a full weekend. Venues need to be able to cover your travel expenses, so teaching fewer classes lowers your chances of getting the job.
Key Takeaway: Do your homework before pitching—know the venue, understand their audience, and offer classes that complement their existing offerings.
Final Dos and Don’ts of Pitching Your Craft Class
With the prep work finished, you’re ready to make the pitch! When contacting your desired venues, be sure to emphasize the benefits your class will bring to that specific yarn shop or locale. Highlight how your class can drive foot traffic, increase sales of yarn and supplies, and enhance the venue’s reputation as a hub for crafting education. If you have a large mailing list or online following, include those statistics in your pitch. Demonstrating the value of your class will make your pitch more compelling to shop-owners.
On rare occasions, a shop may ask you to demonstrate your abilities or teach a class for free. This is never acceptable, although some shops may try to convince you that it is. If you feel that you need more teaching experience before getting paid for your work, consider suggesting a charitable event in their shop or in your community. There’s nothing wrong with sharing your skills, but no one should be profiting off of your classes unless you are gaining something as well.
With larger events, look out for contracts that don’t cover travel or hotel costs. If you agree to work for one of these events, be prepared to lose money if your classes don’t fill up. If you feel it necessary, it’s okay to turn down a teaching offer. It can be hard to walk away from a job, especially if you’re just getting started with your teaching career, but in the long run, it’s more important for you to value yourself.
Lastly, remember to be professional, enthusiastic, and prepared to answer any questions or concerns. Most of all, don’t be afraid of rejection. It takes time to gain momentum and establish your reputation as a teacher. There are bound to be times when your proposals just don’t fit with the needs of the shop, but that shouldn’t deter you from learning from the experience and moving forward.
Key Takeaway: Know your worth, pitch with professionalism, and don’t be afraid to turn down offers that don’t value your time and skills.
By applying these strategies, you’ll improve your chances of landing successful craft class opportunities. With hard work and a little bit of luck, you’ll have shops lining up to book a slot in your busy schedule.
Curious about Xandy Peters’ designs? Explore some of his popular patterns:
